Quick link: cutt.ly/saphanaspatial

(last updated: 2022-08-05)

Almost exactly 3 years back my colleague Sharon Om had the fantastic idea to publish a blog post gathering all relevant online resources around Spatial Solutions from SAP. In the meantime the globe kept spinning and new functionalities and resources became available. Thus, this blog post is meant to continue the tradition and provide some useful resources specifically for SAP HANA Spatial (i.e. HANA’s processing engine for spatial vector data). I will keep this post up-to-date based on the latest material. Additionally, you may check the corresponding community tags for SAP HANA Spatial.

In case you need a system for evaluating the spatial capabilities of SAP HANA, the quickest way to get started is a free trial instance of SAP HANA Cloud. The spatial engine comes out of the box and is ready for usage without further configuration.

Overview & Business Value

• Spatial Solutions from SAP [Landing Page]

  High-level overview on spatial solutions from SAP

• How to Instantly Turn Geospatial Data into Business Value [Article]

  Matthew Zenus, Global Vice President of Database Product and Solution Management, elaborates on the business value of geospatial data and the partnership with Esri in that sector.

• Data Analysis with a Spatial Dimension [Blog]

  Some of the key business questions that may be answered using Spatial Analysis as well as a couple starting points for your reading list.

• SAP TechEd 2020: Embedded Location Analytics and the Power of Geospatial Data with Partners [Video]

  This lecture from SAP TechEd 2020 gives an overview on SAP HANA Spatial and Spatial Services. It also comprises a demo of the integration with GeoServer.

Spatial Processing Basics

• SAP HANA Spatial Reference [Documentation]

  The documentation is your one-stop-shop for all technical details around SAP HANA Spatial. You can find a full list of all supported functions as well as information on the concepts, that are used.

• Devtoberfest Youtube Playlist [Video]

  The video series contains almost 3 hours of content and demos around Advanced Analytics, Spatial and Graph processing. Videos 2 – 7 are specifically referring to SAP HANA Spatial.

• Import zipped shapefiles into SAP HANA Cloud using Database Explorer [Blog]

  Witalij Rudnicki is describing crisp and clear how to get your shapefiles into SAP HANA Cloud by using Database Explorer.

• Where to (NOT) Charge my Car? OpenStreeMap POIs in SAP HANA [Blog]

  A blog covering usage of OSMnx with SAP HANA and doing some basic analysis on top.

• In-database Voronoi Computation [Video]

  Demo video showcasing the usage of In-database Voronoi computation for planning hospital locations.

• Markers for geographical areas (with SAP HANA SQL) [Blog]

  An The use case of ST_PointOnSurface().

• Geospatial Tuesday [Blog Series]

  Developer Advocate Witalij Rudnicki is publishing blogs around HANA Spatial using the tag #GeospatialTuesday. The blogs show dedicated spatial functions in action.

• SAP HANA Spatial Developer Tutorials [Tutorial]

  There are two tutorials covering the usage of Spatial Data Types (1) and Spatial Methods (2). Both can be followed with the free editions of SAP HANA.

• Spatial Analysis with SAP HANA Platform [openSAP Course]

  Join this free openSAP course to learn how you can analyze spatial data for your business with SAP HANA.

• SAP HANA Academy Playlist [Video]

  Technical education videos that introduce a variety of spatial functions in detail.

• (Reverse) Geospatial Nearest Neighbour Searches [Blog]

  This blog provides generic SQLScripts for doing k-Nearest Neighbour and Reverse k-Nearest Neighbour Searches.

• Linking Latitude and Longitude to Countries with SAP HANA Cloud [Blog]

  Given a table with latitude and longitude values. Learn how to determine the respective country for each entry.

  

Spatial Data Science

• Boost your Applications with In-database Spatial & Machine Learning [Video]

  The presentation, that was part of the Spatial Data Science Conference 2020, highlights the value of in-database Spatial Machine Learning.

• The Impact of Geospatial Features on Machine Learning [Article]

  Is the quantitative impact of geospatial features on machine learning models measurable? If yes, what is the measured impact? The article summarises some of the below linked blogs.

• Spatial Machine Learning at Geomob [Video]

  A generic approach to Spatial Machine Learning presented at Geomob Online.

• Spatial Data Science powered by SAP HANA [Blog]

  Learn how to work with HANA Spatial, Jupyter Notebooks and Kepler.gl to predict the duration of taxi rides in the city of Porto.

• Predicting Taxi Destinations with SAP HANA [Blog]

  A follow-up on ‘Spatial Data Science powered by SAP HANA’. On top of predicting the duration of taxi rides, you can learn how to predict the target destination of a taxi ride.

• On Machine Learning Without Location Data [Blog]

  The example of predicting housing prices in the city of Melbourne is used to quantify the value of geospatial features for the prediction.

Esri Integration

• ArcGIS/SAP HANA Documentation [Documentation]

  Documentation of database requirements and supported HANA/ArcGIS configurations

• GIS for Business Intelligence [Landing Page]

  Esri+SAP alliance overview on the Esri Partner Network

• Bringing Your Data to Life with ArcGIS and SAP HANA [ArcGIS Storymap]

  A powerful ArcGIS Storymap showcasing the potential of integrating Esri ArcGIS with SAP HANA.

• Esri ArcGIS on SAP HANA to Break Down Silos [Blog]

  Josh Ledbetter on breaking down silos with SAP HANA and Esri ArcGIS.

• The Four Advantages of ArcGIS on HANA [Blog]

  Well, the title says it all: Learn about the four main reasons for running ArcGIS on HANA. A blog by Tom Turchioe.

• Esri ArcGIS Pro & SAP HANA – Upload, Visualize and Process Spatial Data [Video]

  A technical walk-through on how to upload, visualize and process spatial data with ArcGIS Pro on HANA

• Real-time reporting solution combining Geo-spatial and Financial data [Blog]

  In this blog post, Alexis Fouquier describes the steps he followed to create a real-time reporting solution combining Geo spatial and Financial data. The data is federated from SAP S/4HANA®  Flexible Real Estate Management (RE-FX), SAP Geographical Enablement Framework (SAP Geo Framework) and consumed using Esri ArcGIS (Pro or Insights).

• Querying ABAP CDS Views from an ArcGIS HANA Tenant [Blog]

  Tom Turchioe. describes how an SAP customer used ABAP CDS views for consumption in ArcGIS.

• Get started with SAP HANA Cloud and ArcGIS Pro for Free in 5 easy steps [Blog]

  Shabana Samsudheen shows the steps to integrate SAP’s ERP like business data with GIS data using a simple scenario.

Open Source Integration

• QGIS 3.18 supports SAP HANA Cloud [Blog]

  The Open Source GIS Client QGIS comes with a native database provider for SAP HANA since version 3.18.

• Creating a Playground for Spatial Analytics [Blog]

  No matter if you’re new to QGIS or if you’re new to SAP HANA – or even both. This blog has the goal to provide you with a working and free-of-cost playground in less than 30 minutes.

• Open Source GIS with SAP HANA [Blog]

  A step-by-step description on how to setup SAP HANA (express edition) with GeoServer and QGIS.

• Good Things Come Together: DBeaver, SAP HANA Spatial & Beer [Blog]

  Connect the Open Source Database Management Studio DBeaver with SAP HANA for getting spatial visualizations of SQL result sets.

• SAP HANA GeoServer Community Module [Documentation]

  The official documentation of the GeoServer community module for SAP HANA.

• Kyma Runtime Extension for GeoServer [GitHub]

  Remi Astier’s sample provides a GeoServer instance with the plugin for SAP HANA Connectivity. Geoserver exposes in a variety of formats spatial data hosted in SAP HANA.

• GDAL wtih SAP HANA driver: build it [Blog]

  Witalij Rudnicki explains how to build GDAL with SAP HANA driver on MacOS.

• GDAL with SAP HANA driver in OSGeo4W [Blog]

  Witalij Rudnicki explains how to install GDAL with SAP HANA driver on Windows.

• GDAL with SAP HANA driver: use it [Blog]

  Witalij Rudnicki show a usage example of GDAL with the SAP HANA driver.

Multi-model Processing

• Intelligent Multi-Model Data Processing with SAP HANA Cloud [Tutorial]

  Get to know spatial and graph processing in SAP HANA Cloud, HANA database with nine hands-on exercises. Use your own (trial) database and our sample data to experience the advantages of intelligent multi-model data processing.

• Spatial Anonymization with SAP HANA Cloud [Blog]

  This blog show how to combine spatial processing with the anonymization concepts of SAP HANA Cloud. The approach is explained hands-on along an example.

• Calculating Isochrones using SAP HANA Graph and Spatial [Blog]

  In this blog post Markus Fath describes how to calculate drive time distances and isochrones on street network data. Isochrones are areas reachable within a certain time threshold.

• Creating a Graph from a Voronoi Tessellation [Blog]

  This blog provides generic SQLScripts for constructing a graph out of a given Voronoi tessellation.

• Tap into your Network using Python [Blog]

  The SAP HANA Python Client API for Machine Learning supports handling graph and spatial data while integrating with GeoPandas and NetworkX. This blog by Markus Fath contains resources and a Jupyter Notebook that introduces the functionality.

• Know your Dependencies – Network Tracing with SAP HANA Graph [Blog]

  Another great blog by Markus Fath, where he will show how to use some basic SAP HANA Graph function to understand dependencies in a directed graph.

• Doing Multi-model Analytics in SAP HANA orchestrated by Python (TechEd2020 DAT108) [Blog Series]

  A blog series by Witalij Rudnicki , which is going through the details of course DAT108 at SAP TechEd 2020. The example comprises Spatial and Graph analytics in SAP HANA orchestrated from within Python using the hana_ml client.

• Using multi model capabilities of SAP HANA in the new ABAP 1909 Developer Edition [Blog]

  Using SAP HANA Spatial in ABAP on a runtime license? Uwe Fetzer explains how to technically consume spatial data without having direct access to the database. This blog is part of a series, that also covers other multi-model aspects such as the JSON Document Store and HANA’s Graph engine.

• Finding evacuation paths under real wildfire conditions – an application of SAP HANA graph and spatial [Blog]

  The use case described by Rafael Pacheco illustrates the power of combining HANA’s Graph and Spatial engines for finding evacuation paths.

• Augment your Python Analysis with Multi-Model data in SAP HANA Cloud [Blog]

  Markus Fath walks through an end-to-end example based on Wellington’s stormwater network. He evaluates and visualizes the graph and shows how he can analyze problems that might occur in the network based on built in graph algorithms.

• SAP TechEd 2021: DAT262 – Unlock Value and Gain Deep Insights from Your Data with SAP HANA Cloud [Workshop]

  This session introduces attendees to the multi-model capabilities in SAP HANA Cloud. It will mainly work with data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which is basically observations in space and time.

Real-life Examples

• Open Grid Europe Gains New Geospatial Capabilities with SAP HANA Cloud [Article]

  Open Grid Europe (OGE) operates Germany’s largest natural gas pipeline network, totaling 12,000 kilometers. To future-proof their operations, OGE completely revamped their geospatial data capabilities to gain deep insights into the performance of their pipelines.

• San Diego: Connecting with Residents and Making the City Safer [Video]

  Part of what makes the City of San Diego such a great place to live is having a city government that understands how to use cutting-edge IT to make life better for residents.

Other

• Geospatial Extensions with Cloud Application Programming (CAP) [Blog]

  Remi Astier’s came across a customer in the forest industry that needed to develop multiple S/4 extensions and therefore would use CAP. Read on to learn about the prototype.

• Creating an SAC Geo Map from WebIDE (HDI) based Calculation Views [Blog]

  In this blog post Ian Henry shares how to create an SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC), Geo Map based on Calculation Views created within the WebIDE. These are Calc Views that reside within an HDI Container as Column Views.

• Visualise HANA Spatial Clusters with an SAC Choropleth Map [Blog]

  In this blog post Ian Henry describes how you can use the SAP Analytics Cloud choropleth layers to visualise HANA spatial clusters, such as grid, k-means or hexagons.

• Coloring Autobahn sections with SAP Analytics Cloud [Blog]

  Remi Astier’s explains how to color polygons in SAP Analytics Cloud. This is mostly interesting for line geometries in the transportation industry (roads, train lines), utilities and oil & gas.

• Build geospatial data type in Data Warehouse Cloud for a geo map in SAP Analytics Cloud [Blog]

  Even though there is no official support from SAP for geospatial visualization in DWC yet, in this article Boman Hwang shares a possible workaround on how to do it anyway and create geospatial data in DWC and use it in SAC.

• Finding water on a run – for us and pets [Blog]

  In this write-up, Jon Gooding is covering a scenario close to home for him, with also including some of the new SAP Business Technology Platform Features. If it was a point to point run, it would be going from the town of CSV, stopping in HANA Cloud for some persistence, then getting dressed in the Business Application Studio and doing the final showcase in the SAP Analytics Cloud.

• Download your SAP Headquarters Geo Poster! [Blog]

  Download a geo poster based on OSM data and assembled with ArcGIS Pro.

• The Fast Food Finder – Connecting AppGyver to SAP HANA’s Geospatial Engine [Blog]

  Learn how to use the Low-code/no-code platform SAP AppGyver to develop a simple mobile application making use of SAP HANA’s spatial engine.